Last drive in 65 coupe

[Marinmcgreevy]

On Friday I took one last trip around the neighborhood in 301803 before I removed the front bumper and front suspension mounting points to see how bad the rust in the front pan is. I should not have been driving the car as the drivers side mounting point was completely separated front the chassis monocoque. See the photos. Note that the reinforcement was a fine piece of work. I spoke the former (from 1967) owner and he had that work done in the early 80s. Shows what battery acid and leaving a car outside, even in California can do. The rust is very localized and the rest of the sheet metal in the trunk is excellent. I will be replacing the front pan and the gas tank support. I was a little taken aback by the weight of the front bumper but then I noticed the two lead weights mounted behind the L shape bumper bracket. The must weight 20 pounds apiece.

A couple of questions:

1. Best source of sheetmetal? Restoration Design or Stoddards?

2. What is the best way to replicate the black finish in the trunk? It looks a little like the current Wurth spray undercoating but is very brittle. It almost looks like a wrinkle finish paint that was put on too thick. I want to blend this into the existing finish as much of it is still in very good shape and I am trying to maintain originality.

3. When did Porsche start using lead weights in the bumper? The bumper looks original as it is dolphin gray underneath. I do not think someone would add the weights later. The previous owner did not remember.

Thanks.

[Paulporsche]

The factory did this back in 65 for a short time, to help w/ the inherent oversteer caused by the design. This was done to new cars coming off the line, and to customer cars that went back to the factory w/ an owner's complaint. The factory did not tell the owner what had been done, only that things had been fixed. It seems they were somewhat embarassed by such an inelegant solution.

Later suspension revisions, stretching the whelbase, and improved tires, all helped to finally alleviate the problem.

[DarrylD]

I can help you out with question #2.

Here's how my solution looks in action:



Obviously there has been a lot of sheetmetal added to the inner rear wheelhouse that needed to be "textured" to match the original finish.



Can't even see where the seam was after the "texturing" was added.

The solution uses a thick coat of Wurth high-build undercoating over randomly fingertip-applied "dabs" of 3M™ Ultrapro™ Autobody Sealant, 08300... truly more "art" than science but you can't argue with the results.

[DarrylD]

Here's how it looked with the 3M™ Ultrapro™ Autobody Sealant, 08300 applied, prior to the thick coat of Wurth high-build underseal:

[Marinmcgreevy]

Darryl,

Nice Work! Where are you buying the 3M™ Ultrapro™ Autobody Sealant, 08300? Does it come in a can?

I am a little concerned that the Wurth High Build Underseal will will always be soft. The original coating on the car is very hard. What are you using for primer under the autobody sealant?

Thanks very much for the information. This is what this board is about!

[DarrylD]

Thanks for the feedback on my work!

The 3M sealant is standard autobody repair supplier stuff that comes in a caulkgun tube. I had experimented with all kinds of products and find the Wurth high-build underseal does dry hard but shrinks down while it's curing.

I make liberal use of the 3M seam sealer to seal the new spotweld seams and the idea hit me, it's designed to be high-build, low shrinkage and stick to this surface, what if I rough it up, the Wurth underseal would have something to cling to. Sure enough, the rougher, the more it looked like big blobs of undercoat. Granted it's a very labor intensive approach, good for patches but I'm not going to do the whole replaced floor pan with it.

I use 3M weld-thru primer, that's the silver surface you see in the photo. It is essentially just a heavy zinc coating that seals the surface. The Wurth underseal should seal the surface as well as paint, especially in the thickness (number of coats) I've applied it.

The car in the photos is a mid-'65 built 912 I'm currently restoring, you might want to take a look at my restoration journal as there's probably something there of use for your car since they're the same body and started in about the same condition. http://members.aol.com/darryld/912.htm

Oh and by the way, the best source of replacement sheetmetal is the guy that have what you need currently in stock! It seems that the majority of the stuff you see originates from Denmark and is Dansk brand, even stuff from Restoration Design. I've bought stuff from both Stoddards and Restoration Design and both are top notch. I find that faxing my order to Restoration Design gets a prompt return phone call from Bill but he's hard to reach directly.

Probably the largest single success factor is a good MIG welder.

Good luck and have fun!